NOTES AND ABSTRACTS.
Industrial Strife in Sweden. Mr. O. Dalqvist has for years been especially interested in the question of strikes and lockouts. He gives in Haft 9, 1900, of the Ekonomisk Tidakrifl the following figures illustrative of Swedish conditions :
Year
Number of Strikes
Number of Laborers Involved
Loss in Work Days
1886...
i.iSs
1887
1888
1889
1800..
1891
1892 ."
16
1893...
32
1801 . .
Is
768
1801;
4.6
1896
5
1897
90
1898
134
16,700
l84,4OO
1899
62
8,667
Several interesting tendencies of Swedish industrial life are self-evident in these figures ; it is apparent that industrial wars are being fought on a larger and more obstinate scale, and one notes a sort of rhythm in the recurrence of ebb and flow. Of late years lockouts are increasing in number and faster than strikes ; of the lost labor days of 1899 172,200 are chargeable to lockouts. Employers seem to be taking the offensive, this being due, according to the present writer, to a sinking con- juncture in the labor market. A. G. KELLER, Yale University.
Spanish Trade since the Spanish- American War. De Economist reports an augmented activity in Spanish trade since the war with the United States. In 1899 not less than sixty-one large companies were formed in Bilbao, the scene of the greatest advance ; these companies employ a capital of 128,000,000 pesetas ($25,600,- ooo), and comprise twenty-three ship companies, seven banks, eight sugar factories, seven electric factories, and seven mining companies. This is an advance unheard of in the history of the country. The yearly increasing merchant fleet of Bilbao has also led to the establishment of a new Spanish marine insurance company, having a capital of 10,000,000 pesetas ($2,000,000).
Bilbao's chief article of export is iron ore. The following table gives quantity and destination of shipments by years (in thousands of tons) :
Countries
1895
1896
1897
1898
1899
660
S?!
893
883
993
l63
182
229
France
1*6
383
278
66
50
United States
18
M
83
Other lands
8
Total
4.596
5,138
5,117
4,743
6,004
A. G. KELLER, Yale University.
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